Heavy feet

[Marissa-Julia]

Coming from a western dance background I tend to wanna stay on my toes. It's been a little difficult transitioning my weight towards my heels. Sometimes I even feel like I'll fall over, which makes some of my movements a little stiff in fear of losing my balance. In class I'm okay because I have a teacher to constantly remind me and encourage me. Whereas at home, I can't seem to commit to a few moves. I even find myself reverting to ballet feet in the middle of practicing. I also feel it's making me heavier on my feet? I'm normally very quiet and sometimes shy, so i.e. when I do choo choo shimmies, I blush and have to stop. I feel like I'm going to bring down the house lol.*

So my point is, am I too far back on my heels? Am I supposed to make some noise? Or am I just being overly self-conscious? I don't know what would have made me this way all of sudden. Sometimes I feel like I started this dance form too late. Or that I'll never be good. Maybe I'm just discouraging myself?

 

[Salome]

When teachers (myself included) talk about posture it's... your feet are here, your knees like this, pelvis like that, ribs this way... And while we do keep our feet under our hips, our knee soft, our pelvis contracted slightly etc. etc. we are dynamic. Dance is dynamic, right!? You are releasing and moving in and out of various parts of 'posture' the whole time because you are dancing. In a class setting where you may be standing in one place, drilling something, then there is that focus of just moving one part and keeping posture. Which serves a purpose of forcing you to be aware and control your overall lines.

You are bringing up the point about weight and it's relevant to what I'm saying. Your weight isn't always suppose to be back. Sometimes it's in the ball, the heel, sometimes it's even steven... You are not always going to hold your weight in the heel. If you are doing Oriental, it's very lofty, lifted and being 'up' is ok. You DO need to be able to bring it down, to get earthy and juicy so you can have somewhere to go, some contrast. There are some movement, large hip circles, certain shimmies and so forth that call for weight to the back... Is holding weight to the front causing you to lean forward, to loose composure of your upper body, to be off balance? Unless you answered yes to that or are learning a folk dance... I wouldn't worry so much about it.

 

[Kashmir]

Choo choos are definitely on the balls of the feet - very hard to do on flat feet!

Even though you are on flat feet a lot it doesn't need to be heavy. You are still stepping ball, heel. Your knees are soft and you can change direction on a whim.

What I see students have more difficulty with is the number of steps where the weight is forward - stepping into the front foot; bending the front weighted leg.

Relax - eventually it will become second nature.

 

[Shanazel]

Coming from a western dance background I tend to wanna stay on my toes. It's been a little difficult transitioning my weight towards my heels.

Coming from 1970s American Cabaret I almost laughed outloud at the idea of needing to transition toward the heels. I just spent an hour teaching a student how to get OFF her heels and onto the ball of her foot.

What Salome and Kashmir said goes for me, too. You'll be fine.

 

[Mosaic]

I agree with all the above but I also think you need to "centre" yourself your whole body needs to be centred so you don't feel like you are going to topple over, so while you are learning & drilling try to bring your weight/centre to the whole of your foot evenly, get a sense of balance, then you should be able to move from centre to heel & ball easily. It does take time to get the posture correct even for those who haven't had any dance experience, & you are never-too-old believe me, I started belly dancing in my 50s
~Mosaic

 

[AndreaSTL]

You mention reverting back to ballet feet - how long have you been doing that style? How long have you been doing ME dance? If you've been dancing ballet for years it will take some time to not revert automatically to it's stance. It's your go-to, don't think about it posture while you concentrate on whatever else you're doing. The always-tightened core that's essential for ballet will hold you up in belly dance, but eventually you'll overcome it. I've seen it happen!

As for the noisy choo choo shimmy, that's a pet peeve of mine. Of course you will make some noise, but it shouldn't sound like a herd of elephants crossing the stage. I find it distracting when an otherwise beautiful dancer starts pounding the stage during a choo choo. There have been times they've interfered with being able to hear the music!

Honestly, we are our own worst critics. We tend to magnify what we're doing wrong and minimize what we're doing well. If it's really messing with your head, schedule a private with your teacher. She sees you on a regular basis, so she knows if your self image is skewed or on point. Oh, and you didn't start this dance form too late. I firmly believe it can be started and enjoyed at any age. Granted, a 60 year old beginner isn't likely to find a ton of restaurant work, but she can make strides and have a great time.

 

[Greek Bonfire]

You'll get it. I am also taking Polynesian dance and there is no room for being on the toes at all. And dancing on the feet looks so earthy and fabulous too!

 

[Marissa-Julia]

AndreaSTL: I took ballet, lyrical, jazz, and tap for about 17 years. I started belly dancing 5 months ago lol. I realize my own impatience is a hindrance sometimes.

So far, so good. My knees are bent and I can change from ball to heel much more easily...when I'm not clutching my centre so tightly. I realize with ballet I had to hold in my stomach a lot. My problem is letting it go when I'm moving, because I can shimmy and undulate whilst still. But once I move I want to tighten everything again.

As for those choo choos...my teacher said I was actually very quiet. I was just being self-conscious. I hope with time I'll overcome that.

And thank you so much for all the advice! It was more than helpful